


Art to Art Talk

by vividoie



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romance, Time Skips, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 05:18:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18336959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividoie/pseuds/vividoie
Summary: Three times Donghyuck visit Renjun in the studio and the one time Renjun visits him.





	Art to Art Talk

**Author's Note:**

> I will go down with this ship

_1_

If you asked Renjun when he started hating Donghyuck’s guts, he wouldn’t be able to tell you a specific time because the architecture student made it his goal to annoy Renjun every single day since they met years ago with their cheeks still full and puberty hadn’t hit them yet. It’s like Donghyuck feeds on Renjun’s wrath and Renjun might just resort to literally feeding on his flesh if the boy keeps it up.

 

“Which part of this is ‘chill’, huh?” Renjun loosely tosses his apron on Donghyuck’s general direction, walking to his table with careful steps to avoid tripping on the blocks of wood messily placed on the floor. “I mean, you get to spend your day surrounded with art, you’re allowed to take naps, you draw all day, you’re allowed to eat inside your room and oh!” He pauses for dramatic effect while pointing at the innocent heater tucked in the corner of the room. “You have a fucking heater for your coffee and noodles. If I did any of that in our room Mr. Qian would have my throat,” he says as a matter of fact before sitting on Renjun’s stool, admiring the Chinese boy’s unfinished painting silently.

 

The architecture student waltzed into the studio an hour after lunch, his clothes spotless compared to Renjun’s apron who might as well be a pride flag because of the paint brushes that Renjun may or may not have carelessly wiped on it. Renjun completely lost his focus when Donghyuck something among the lines of ‘being an art student must be stress-free, I mean - architecture is much more stressful!’ and Renjun never whipped his head so fast he thought he might have snapped his neck for a second. Renjun and his classmates were very clearly - obviously - stressed, and Donghyuck sounded like he was undermining their efforts. Well he’d like to see Donghyuck and his puny arms carry a 4-feet canvas all by himself from one end of the campus to the other under the blazing sun. Chill, am I right?

 

  Renjun was sporting a mustard yellow short-sleeved shirt, a pair of black sweatpants and his cap backwards to keep his hair from covering his eyes - and of course, his trusty red apron with little doodles of tiny shapes on it. He got it for an insanely cheap price at the thrift shop when he and his friends decided to skip class and it was too cute to leave there. “Well why don’t you change courses then since it’s so ‘stress-free’ here?” Renjun voiced out, gathering his stuff and wiping his table clean. “Yeah I guess I’ll do that,” Donghyuck answers in a monotone voice making Renjun raise an eyebrow. Monotone and Donghyuck are an unlikely match, they shouldn’t even be allowed to be in the same sentence. Besides, Renjun knew it was bullshit. Donghyuck loves his course, loves it so much that it scared Renjun sometimes how Donghyuck blanks out for a few minutes staring at a building. It was endearing to see him so focused and passionate but he’ll never tell him that.

 

“Hey Jun,” Donghyuck calls after Renjun had successfully ignored him for the past five minutes in favor of thinking of ways on how to carve his block of wood without getting his finger potentially cut off. “What?” he answer, eyebrows meeting in the middle in focus. Should he buy gloves to protect his hands? He should, should he? Maybe those thick ones he saw in passing in the mall, or maybe boxer gloves, or - “Is this us?” Okay maybe he’ll think of gloves next time. He follows Donghyuck’s line of sight and his breath hitches, shit. Immediately, Renjun stands up and grabs his apron - always a trusty apron, that one - and hastily drapes it over one of the paintings displayed near the windows. “Wow would you look at that, all these dust could have damaged my work! Phew,” he declares cheerfully to hide the way his stomach dropped six feet under. Donghyuck only stares at him for a beat too long before showing Renjun his signature smile, all bright and pretty - god Renjun hates him so much.

 

“Yeah you better cover that. We don’t want it to be ruined, don’t we?” Oh he was obviously teasing and Renjun resisted the urge to to whack the painting across his head. Multiple times. Ignoring him, Renjun went back to his seat with his lips pursed into a thin line. It was a painting of two little boys, behind them was a very familiar background of an ice cream truck parked in front of a very familiar park and very familiar faces. ‘Summer Boys’, Renjun called the painting. A memory of one summer day when they were no less than 10 years old, a painting for a project titled ‘Most Precious Moment of My Childhood’. Now Donghyuck’s hair is red but his smile it still as bright as ever. Yep, Donghyuck definitely caught him.  

 

 

_2_

The next time he visited, his red hair is now orange and he started wearing makeup to spite some of Renjun’s classmates who may or may not have their homophobic tendencies. The colors were blended so prettily Renjun could stare at it for hours, he could stare at Donghyuck for hours while listening to him talk shit about Renjun and he wouldn’t mind. He was just so painfully beautiful it sent Renjun’s pencil flying in the air.

 

“Dude what the fuck?!” Donghyuck yells, barely missing the offensive pencil by a few inches. Renjun isn’t a religious guy but right now he would really like to thank every being out there for inventing makeup and also curse at them for making his heart beat so rapidly inside his rib cage. Recovering from the near death experience, Donghyuck sits on Renjun’s stool in front of Renjun’s easel and tilts his head to the other boy’s direction. “I wore makeup,” he says and Renjun hums with his head hanging low, trying to hide how affected he was. Did the floor always look this interesting? Suddenly Renjun wants to stare at the floor all day.

 

This isn’t the first time Donghyuck wore makeup, Renjun had even seen him apply it himself but their current situation is making it hard for Renjun to talk without sounding like a lovesick puppy. It’s just Renjun and Donghyuck alone inside the art studio, Donghyuck sitting prettily on Renjun’s spot while orange hues rest on his eyelids, his lips showing a hint of lipgloss, his clothes too simple but it’s so - so Donghyuck. And Renjun is far too gone.

 

“I had lunch with Mark earlier, he wanted you to eat with us because he said you’re starting to look like a paintbrush to him,” Donghyuck laughs, all high-pitched and charming like the rest of him. Renjun thought, if love at first sight was real - does it apply on a daily basis because he sure falls for Donghyuck at first sight every single day.

“And did you know Xuxi likes you? I gave him your number so you could stop being a salty single and go out more,” Donghyuck added and Renjun didn’t miss the way his heart did a little squeeze in hurt. Donghyuck didn’t like him that way, that’s for sure. He had been trying to set up Renjun on dates since the first semester started and honestly?

Renjun is tired of every failed date he had been in because all he thought about was the self-proclaimed ‘Cupid in the modern world’ sitting on his stool.

 

Hearing footsteps come near him, Renjun leaps out of his desk in the corner of the room and grabs the nearest thing he could get his hands on - the goddamn heater. “I think I want coffee right now. I’ll be back, just gotta fill this with water,” Renjun spoke in one breath and left the studio as fast as he could without waiting for Donghyuck’s reply. The poor heater is clutched near his chest in an attempt to dull the pain his brain was formulating to make him realize - again - that Donghyuck isn’t interested. Renjun wasn’t craving a cup of warm coffee to wake him up from the dream of ever being with Donghyuck that way, he was craving some piece of mind. Maybe the stress of finals was just getting to him, yeah that might be it. He’s just being extra emotional because of the deadlines piling up and presentations looming over him, it’s just stress.

 

Taking a deep breath, Renjun turns on his heel without filling the innocent heater with water and walks back inside the studio as if nothing happened. Except something did happen, is happening, and it was enough to make him tighten his hold on the heater’s handle. “Are these drawings of me?” Donghyuck asked with a quiet voice, eyes trained on Renjun’s sketchbook he stupidly left open on top of his desk. How many pages of the sketchbook has Donghyuck seen? He couldn’t read the little notes Renjun wrote beside his drawings, right? They were in Chinese, Donghyuck doesn’t understand Chinese, right? Renjun internally panicked, placing the heater back on its proper place and closing the sketchbook in one swift move, trying to avoid skin contact with Donghyuck as much as possible. “Hey isn’t it time for your class with Mr. Qian? You should probably get going, you know how he gets with latecomers.”

 

From this close proximity, Renjun could clearly see the eyeshadow decorating Donghyuck’s eyelids, and if he moved a bit he would be able to feel those lipgloss-stained lips against his ow- no. Jumping back, Renjun lets out a cough before grabbing his backpack and sliding it over his shoulder, his sketchbook safely hidden on his side. “I have to go too, Chenle must be hungry,” he gives Donghyuck a tight-lipped smile before basically sprinting to the elevator, his heart pounding like crazy and his breathing ragged. He couldn’t stop thinking about lipgloss-stained lips all day.

 

_3_

“So,” Donghyuck bit a chunk of the ‘apple Mark gave me during lunch because an apple a day keeps the doctor away - and Mark’s studying medicine.’ He chews loudly before making his way to Renjun’s stool, as per usual. “How’s it going with Xuxi? Have you been getting chummy with each other?” he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and it made Renjun want to hit him for even bringing up Xuxi when he was just about to forget the fact that his crush of four years is giving him away to someone else. It has been three days since that delightful accident of Donghyuck seeing Renjun’s sketches of him and Renjun was doing a good job pretending it never happened, he’ll take the memory to his grave if he has to.

 

“How’s Jisung? I heard he came down with the flu last night?” Renjun intentionally changes the subject, his feet propped on top of his desk and his attention half on Twitter and half on the boy currently inhaling a fruit loudly.”How’d you know? Only Mark, Jeno and I w- wait. Are you and Jeno..” Donghyuck trails off, eyebrows widening in interest while Renjun tries his best to not let a scorn appear on his face. If he keeps quiet, Donghyuck would assume he and Jeno are onto something, but if he objects, Donghyuck would still assume him and Jeno are onto something. Renjun’s losing no matter which path he decides to take. In the end, Renjun chose to ignore the younger boy in favor of watching speedpainting videos on Youtube. If he ignores Donghyuck’s presence enough his heart might slow down and forget his feelings for the other boy. That’s right. A distraction is what he needs

 

“Hey Huang Renjun, answer me,” Donghyuck whined, lower lip cutely jutting out into an adorable exaggerated pout - not that Renjun was staring of course. It was just a glance, less than a second. .”Are you and Jeno finally back together? Tell me the details, hurry! What about Jaemin? Oh my god is Jeno cheating on him? Why didn’t you tell me? You should have told me!” Renjun wished he had some kind of tape near him so he could shut the other boy’s mouth. Will Donghyuck ever stop giving Renjun away?

 

Renjun and Jeno dated in high school, but broke it off after two months because they both realized they were better off as friends. Two years later and they’re still best friends, Renjun admitting he dated Jeno in an attempt to forget Donghyuck and Jeno doing the same to stop himself from crushing on his neighbor, Jaemin. Renjun can proudly say Jeno is his second most trusted friend in the world, Donghyuck is first of course.  Donghyuck has always been first on the list.

 

When they broke up, Jeno ended up confessing to Jaemin - they became a couple on the same day Renjun found out Donghyuck had been dating Mark behind his back for two months. Renjun wasn’t mad when he found out, he was more disappointed, but he kept his mouth shut. Donghyuck doesn’t have to tell him everything, they’re just friends anyway. He’s not going to act like a possessive boyfriend, especially when he knows how kindhearted Mark is.

 

Maybe that’s the reason why he snapped at Donghyuck in the present day. “I’m allowed to keep stuff from you Donghyuck, __we’re just friends.__ ” Oh that sounded way better in his head. That got Donghyuck to stop talking, jaw slacked and his eyebrows furrowed, “What?” Donghyuck asked, surprised by the flat tone Renjun used, as if his words were practiced into fluency. The sound of Renjun sliding his chair back echoed inside the studio, eyes trained on the door with Donghyuck’s gaze following his every move. “I’m leaving, I promised Yangyang we’re getting lunch together,” were Renjun’s last words before he stepped out of the suffocating room.

 

“Jun,” the younger boy called, tugging on Renjun’s sleeve. “Your wallet, you forgot,” Donghyuck said in a small voice, placing the wallet on Renjun’s palm. With a thankful smile, Renjun walked to the direction of the elevator, glad that no one was taking the lift with him. __We’re just friends,__ Renjun said it with his own mouth but why does it hurt so much? He said it himself, he had been saying it to himself since Donghyuck admitted he was dating Mark, continued to say it even after the two broke up three months later. They’re just friends. Maybe it was time for Renjun to look at the people who wants to spend time with him, people who wouldn’t give him away without a second thought, people who would return his love. People that aren’t Donghyuck.

 

That was what he told himself for the rest of the day until Donghyuck messaged him telling him to visit Donghyuck’s class later. __One more day, this is the last day, then I’ll move on__.

 

_1_

The architecture students’ room was more crowded that the art studio. Here, desks littered the whole room instead of easels and there was an evident lack of heater in the room. Donghyuck sits in the middle of the room, hands clasped behind his head as he watched Renjun enter the room after his last class ended. The sun had already set, most of the students were gone and only the sound of the air-conditioner filled the room _ _. Last day,__  Renjun thought to himself.

 

“Is something wrong?” Renjun asked, walking around the room to admire the drawings of buildings pasted on the walls. Architecture is a form of art and Renjun admired it, the effort they put into drawing the buildings on paper made him smile. There was an ongoing friendly competition with the Fine Arts students and Architecture students in their university, but they collaborate when needed. His train of thought was interrupted when Donghyuck swiftly put his arm around Renjun’s shoulders, a familiar gesture but it made Renjun nervous nonetheless.

 

“How did lunch with Yangyang go?” he asked, guiding Renjun to one of the seats while Donghyuck sat on the floor beside Renjun. Renjun raised a questioning eyebrow, looking at the boy sitting on the floor as if there weren’t at least 20 seats available. “Just wanna make you feel tall,” Donghyuck jokes and it earned him a harsh glare from Renjun and a playful hit on the back of his head. Still, he didn’t lift himself from the floor, sitting cross-legged as he took Renjun’s hand and began playing with the older boy’s fingers.

 

“What are you doing?” Renjun rests his head on the desk, facing Donghyuck with a sleepy expression and he tries to ignore how pretty Donghyuck looked with his eyes focused on the birthmark on Renjun’s hand. “Admiring a mighty artist’s creative hands,” Renjun snorted as Donghyuck pretended to sob at ‘how blessed he was for touch a national artist’s hand’. He was being dramatic and Renjun loves it. That was until Renjun heard Renjun’s ringtone go off from inside his pocket.

 

“Hey Xuxi,” Renjun sat up straight, his hand holding onto his phone and the other still on Donghyuck’s grasp. “Yeah my classes ended a while ago. Cafe? Isn’t it too late for coffee?” Renjun chuckled as he heard Xuxi go off about how it’s never too late or too early for coffee. Especially for busy college students like them. While Xuxi was entertaining him, Renjun didn’t realize the lack of presence beside him until Donghyuck was literally looming above him with a blank expression. ‘What?’ Renjun mouthed, eyes on Donghyuck while Xuxi talked his ear off. Is Donghyuck trying to listen to their conversation? Is he about to say ‘I told you he likes you!’? Is he going to push Renjun out of the room and to Xuxi? Is that it?

 

Renjun’s mood sours at the thought. Right, Donghyuck gave Xuxi his number because he was tired of Renjun’s single ass. Of course. “Are you coming?” Xuxi asked just in time for Renjun to snap back to his senses. Donghyuck was still watching him carefully and it’s starting to weird him out. “Yeah I-” “He’s not. Mark is available though,” Renjun looks at his phone that was now on Donghyuck’s hand, cutting him off from the free coffee and cake Xuxi offered him just a few seconds ago. Renjun couldn’t hear Xuxi clearly but it was obvious that the older boy was laughing before he ended the call.

 

“You owe me that coffee and cake,” Renjun said once Donghyuck has safely placed his phone back on his palm. Donghyuck doesn’t have a blank expression anymore but his eyes remained serious, as if he was thinking hard about something. Figuring Donghyuck was too distracted to have a conversation with him, Renjun made a move to stand up only for Donghyuck to gently push him back and suddenly Donghyuck’s lipgloss-stained lips were on his forehead.  Renjun prided himself to be a man with wide vocabulary but all he could about was - what the fuck.

 

They remained in that position for a few seconds. Donghyuck’s hands on either side of Renjun arms and Renjun glued to his seat. “I would’ve kissed your lips but this lipgloss is strawberry flavored, I know you hate them,” Donghyuck murmured once he moved back to his spot on the floor. Renjun could only look at him in confusion. Renjun knew no everything had to be gay because __he__ was gay but Donghyuck’s actions was - in every sense of the word- gay. “Dude, what the hell?” Renjun managed to choke out when the situation finally sunk in.

His crush of four years, Lee ‘Cupid in the modern world’ Donghyuck, kissed his forehead and might have kissed his lips too if it weren’t for his lipgloss. Did Renjun travel to an alternate universe in less than five minutes or did Donghyuck just lose his mind?

 

“Dude?” Donghyuck raised an eyebrow, “So I’ve been dude-zoned before I could even confess? Ouch.” Renjun is definitely in an alternate universe because there was no way - no fucking way - this was happening. “You don’t like me,” Renjun blurted out and he could only watch as Donghyuck let out a sigh. “No shit.”

 

“I’m fucking in love with you.” His night was just getting weirder and weirder, Renjun suddenly misses the comfort of ice cream and his bed. Is the stress of finals getting to him again? Well, if he’s in an alternate universe - he might as well take advantage of the situation, right? No harm in pretending his unrequited love wasn’t so unrequited.

 

“Oh so that’s the reason why you keep pushing me to people, right? Because you’re just so in love with your best friend you thought it would be a fucking great idea to give him away. Classic.” Renjun, alternate universe or not, is still madly in love with Donghyuck and it hurts to think he’ll wake up and realize none of whatever happened tonight was real.

 

“Don’t you remember? We were 10, we were eating ice cream at the plaza when I asked you if you would be with me forever. Remember what you said? You said you’ll always be my friend. You basically friendzoned me for almost a decade, Junnie.” Okay maybe this wasn’t an alternate universe and maybe - just maybe - he feels the urge scream at Donghyuck for holding onto what his 10-year-old self said.

 

“You piece of stale bread.” Renjun sighs, lifting himself from the chair and he crouches in front of the dejected boy sitting on the floor. “I always knew you weren’t the smartest boy around - but really? We were 10, Hyuck. We didn’t know what was ahead of us, hell - you couldn’t even pronounce my name right that time. How was I supposed to know you were proposing to be more than what we had?” Renjun wraps his arms around Donghyuck and the other boy responds by burying his head on Renjun’s chest wordlessly.

 

“Tell you what. We’re going to talk, just us two, and we’re going to be honest about our feelings. No holding back.” Renjun proposed and Donghyuck nods. “And for the record, I’m fucking in love with you too. Dumbass.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
